Communications terminal, a system and a method for internet/network telephony

• US 7,408,915 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2007
• Issued: 08/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Buffalo Patents, LLC
• Original Assignee: Nextlink Patent AB
• Inventors: Hansen, Lars Stenfeldt, Kuhlmann, Peer, Hein-Magnussen, Jon
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham; Chi H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Phan; Tri H.
• Application Number:
  US11/711,009
• Publication Number:
  US 20070160028A1
• Time in Patent Office: 525 Days
• Field of Search: 455/422.1, 455/426.2, 455/41.2, 370310-349
• US Class Current: 370/349
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/085 specially adapted for interworking of IP-based networks with other networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2535 adapted for voice communication over an Internet Protocol [IP] network Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network equipment and services H04M7/006; implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/271 controlled by voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6041 Portable telephones adapted for handsfree use
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/725 Cordless telephones user interfaces specially adapted therefor H04M1/724
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/20 Manipulation of established connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A communication terminal for Internet telephony is provided that handles and control communication of data in accordance with a standardized network protocol and exchanges data with a connecting unit connected to the Internet where the resulting data exchanged between the terminal and a connecting unit consist of packets in a standardized protocol data packet format embedded in a wireless format. This provides a communications terminal which uses a network or the Internet for the transfer of digitized speech, etc., thereby achieving great economic savings. Also, the flexibility is increased with respect to wireless communication with the network or the Internet without any need for specialized equipment and functionality.

Claims

1. An electronic portable communications terminal for network telephony comprising:

audio means reproducing sound on the basis of a first electrical signal and to record sound resulting in a second electrical signal,

converting means converting said second electrical signal into transmission data, representing sound for transmission, in a suitable data format, and to convert received data, representing received sound, in said suitable data format into said first electrical signal,

protocol means connected to said converting means and handling and controlling communication of said received and transmission data in accordance with a standardized network protocol, thereby embedding and extracting said transmission and received data, respectively, in/from a data packet format according to said standardized network protocol, and

wireless near field communications means connected to said protocol means and receiving/sending said received and transmission data in said data packet format from/to said protocol means, the wireless near field communications means embedding said transmission data in said data packet format received from said protocol means in a WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format and to extract said received data in said data packet format from said WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format, the wireless near field communications means performing wireless near field communication of said received data or said transmission data embedded in said WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format with a connecting unit communicating in said WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format and, the connecting unit establishing a connection to a network according to said standardized network protocol, whereby the resulting data exchanged between the wireless near field communication means and the connecting unit include packets in said data packet format embedded in said WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format.

2. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein said standardized network protocol is the TCP/IP protocol, where said terminal communicates additional information or data with said connecting unit, and that said additional information or data comprises one or more of:

an IP address of a communication receiver,

an IP address of said terminal,

an IP address of at least one connecting unit,

an IP address of a service server, and

TCP/IP packets.

3. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein said terminal communicates additional information or data with said connecting unit, and that said additional information or data comprises one or more of:

speech mails,

commercials,

music,

stock exchange and financial news,

chat-lines,

chat-rooms, and

telephone meetings.

4. The terminal according to claim 3, wherein said terminal establishes a connection to a service server on said network via said connecting unit, so that information concerning a desired communication receiver is transferred to the server, said server passing on information concerning an IP address of the desired communication receiver and to establish a direct connection between the desired communication receiver and said terminal.

5. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein said terminal additionally comprises speech recognition means analyzing and interpreting said sound for recording or said transmission data in order to identify one or more commands.

6. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein said suitable data format is a compressed data format.

7. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein said terminal is an ear telephone that comprises means for capturing sound for said recording via the cheek-bone and the soft tissue in the auditory canal of a user.

8. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein said terminal is a headset comprising:

a housing comprising the converting means, the wireless near field communication means, and the protocol means,

an earpiece secured to the housing comprising means for reproducing sound on the basis of the first electrical signal,

a brace secured to the housing at one end and with a sound capturing unit for capturing sound for transmission in the form of a second electrical signal located at the other end of the brace.

9. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein said connecting unit is in the form of one or more of:

a computer;

a PDA;

a mobile telephone with Internet or network connection;

an Internet access point; and

a portable computer.

10. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein:

the terminal is a mobile telephone with WiFi or IEEE 802.11 capabilities; and

the wireless near field communications means communicates in the form of a WiFi or IEEE 802.11 protocol.

11. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein:

the terminal is a mobile telephone with WiFi or IEEE 802.11 capabilities;

the wireless near field communication means communicates in the form of a WiFi or IEEE 802.11 protocol; and

the connecting unit is an Internet access point.

12. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein:

the terminal is a headset; and

the connecting unit is an Internet access point.

13. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein said electronic portable communications terminal is in the form of one or more of:

a computer;

a PDA;

a mobile telephone; and

a portable computer.

14. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein the resulting data exchanged between the wireless near field communication means and the connecting unit includes at least one of a received call and a transmitted call.

15. The terminal according to claim 14, wherein the at least one of the received call and the transmitted call involves speech communication between at least two persons.

16. The terminal according to claim 15, wherein the speech communication between the at least two persons involves the at least two persons having a conversation.

17. A system for network telephony, the system comprising:

a portable communications terminal comprising;

protocol means handling and controlling communication of received and transmission data in accordance with a standardized network protocol, thereby embedding and extracting said transmission and received data, respectively, in/from a data packet format according to said standardized network protocol, and

wireless near field communications means connected to said protocol means and receiving/sending said received and transmission data in said data packet format from/to said protocol means, the wireless near field communications means embedding said transmission data in said data packet format received from said protocol means in a WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format and to extract said received data in said data packet format from said WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format, the wireless near field communications means performing wireless near field communication of said received data or said transmission data embedded in said WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format with a connecting unit communicating in said WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format and to establish a connection to a network according to said standardized network protocol, whereby the resulting data exchanged between the wireless near field communication means and the connecting unit include packets in said data packet format embedded in said WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format,

a connecting unit connected to the wireless near field communications means communicating in a WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format, the connecting unit establishing a connection to a network,

a service server connected to a network, said server comprising one or more databases comprising information related to potential desired communication receivers or transmitters, said server being passing on information concerning an IP address of a desired communication receiver and establishing a direct connection between the desired communication receiver and a communication transmitter, wherein said terminal is acting as a communication transmitter or as a communication receiver within the system.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein said system additionally comprises speech recognition means analyzing and interpreting data representing sound to identify one or more commands.

19. The system according to claim 17, wherein the resulting data exchanged between the wireless near field communication means and the connecting unit includes at least one of a received call and a transmitted call.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein the at least one of the received call and the transmitted call involves speech communication between at least two persons.

21. The system according to claim 20, wherein the speech communication between the at least two persons involves the at least two persons having a conversation.

22. A wireless communication device comprising:

an audio unit;

a conversion unit;

a protocol unit; and

a wireless near field communications unit;

wherein the audio unit is capable of performing at least the following functions;

(i) reproducing sound on the basis of a first electrical signal; and

(ii) producing a second electrical signal on the basis of sound being input into the audio unit;

wherein the conversion unit is capable of performing at least the following functions;

(i) converting the second electrical signal into transmission data in a suitable format; and

(ii) converting received data, representing received data, from the suitable data into the first electrical signal;

wherein the protocol unit is connected at least to the conversion unit, and handles and controls communication of the transmission data and the received data in accordance with a standardized network protocol, the protocol unit being capable of performing at least the following functions;

(i) embedding the transmission data into a data packet format according to the standardized network protocol; and

(ii) extracting the received data from the data packet format according to the standardized network protocol;

wherein the wireless near field communications unit includes at least the following characteristics;

(i) the wireless near field communications unit is connected at least to the protocol unit;

(ii) the wireless near field communications unit sends the received data to the protocol unit;

(iii) the wireless near field communications unit receives the transmission data from the protocol unit;

(iv) the wireless near field communications unit embeds the transmission data that is in the data packet format and that is received from the protocol unit into a WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format;

(v) the wireless near field communications unit extracts the received data that is in the data packet format from the WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format;

(vi) the wireless near field communications unit communicates the transmission data embedded in the WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format or the received data embedded in the WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format, through wireless near field communication, with a connecting unit in a WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format for transmission of the transmission data and the received data, the connecting unit establishing a connection to a network according to the standardized protocol,

whereby the resulting data exchanged between the wireless near field communication unit and the connecting unit include packets in the data packet format embedded in the WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format, and the resulting data exchanged between the wireless near field communication unit and the connecting unit includes at least one of a received call and a transmitted call.

23. The wireless communication device of claim 22, wherein the wireless communication device is a headset comprising:

a housing comprising the converting unit, the wireless near field communication unit, and the protocol unit;

an earpiece secured for reproducing sound on the basis of the first electrical signal, the earpiece being secured to the housing; and

a brace secured to the housing at one end and with a sound capturing unit for capturing sound for transmission in the form of the second electrical signal located at the other end of the brace.

24. The wireless communication device of claim 22 being an ear telephone that comprises means for capturing sound for a recording via the cheek-bone and the soft tissue in the auditory canal of a user.

25. The wireless communication device of claim 22, wherein the at least one of the received call and the transmitted call involves speech communication between at least two persons.

26. The wireless communication device of claim 25, wherein the speech communication between the at least two persons involves the at least two persons conversing.

27. The wireless communication device of claim 26 being at least one of:

a cellular telephone; and

a mobile telephone.

28. The wireless communication device of claim 22 being at least one of:

a cellular telephone; and

a mobile telephone.

29. A method for network telephony comprising the steps of:

reproducing sound on the basis of a first electrical signal and recording sound resulting in a second electrical signal, by audio means,

converting said second electrical signal into transmission data, representing sound for transmission, in a suitable data format, and converting received data, representing received sound, in said suitable data format into said first electrical signal, by converting means, and

handling/controlling communication of said received and transmission data in accordance with a standardized network protocol and embedding and extracting said transmission and received data, respectively, in/from a data packet format according to said standardized network protocol, by protocol means,

receiving/sending, by wireless near field communication means, of said received data or said transmission data in said data packet format from/to said protocol means, embedding said transmission data in said data packet format received from said protocol means in a WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format and extracting said received data in said data packet format from said WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format,

communicating, by said wireless near field communication means, said received data or said transmission data embedded in said WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format with a connecting unit communicating in said WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format to establish a connection to a network according to said standardized network protocol, whereby the resulting data exchanged between the wireless near field communication means and the connecting unit include packets in said data packet format embedded in said WiFi or IEEE 802.11 format.

30. The method according to claim 29, wherein said standardized network protocol is the TCP/IP protocol, said method communicates additional information or data with said connecting unit, and that said additional information or data comprises one or more of:

an IP address of a communication receiver,

an IP address of a said terminal,

an IP address of at least one connecting unit,

an IP address of a service server, and

TCP/IP packets.

31. The method according to claim 29, wherein said method communicates additional information or data with said connecting unit, and that said additional information or data comprises one or more of:

speech mails,

commercials,

music,

stock exchange and financial news,

chat-lines,

chat-rooms, and

telephone meetings.

32. The method according to claim 29, wherein said method establishes a connection to a service server on said network via said connecting unit, so that information concerning a desired communication receiver is transferred to the server, said server passing on information concerning the IP address of the desired communication receiver and to establish a direct connection between the desired communication receiver and said terminal.

33. The method according to claim 29, wherein said method additionally comprises speech recognition for analysis and interpretation of said sound for recording or said transmission data in order to identify one or more commands.

34. The method according to claim 29, wherein said suitable data format is compressed data format.

35. The method according to claim 29, wherein said method is used in an ear telephone which comprises means for capturing sound for said recording via the cheek-bone and the soft tissue in the auditory canal of a user.

36. The method according to claim 29, wherein said method is used in a headset comprising:

a housing comprising converting means, wireless near field communication means, and protocol means,

an earpiece secured to the housing comprising means for reproducing sound on the basis of the first electrical signal,

a brace secured to the housing at one end and with a sound capturing unit for capturing sound for transmission in the form of a second electrical signal located at the other end of the brace.

37. The method according to claim 29, wherein said connecting unit is in the form of one or more of:

a computer;

a PDA;

a mobile telephone with Internet or network connection;

an Internet access point; and

a portable computer.

38. The method according to claim 29, wherein:

the method is used in a mobile telephone with WiFi or IEEE 802.11 capabilities; and

the wireless near field communications means communicates in the form of a WiFi or IEEE 802.11 protocol.

39. The method according to claim 29, wherein:

the method is used in a mobile telephone with WiFi or IEEE 802.11 capabilities;

the wireless near field communication means communicates in the form of a WiFi or IEEE 802.11 protocol; and

the connecting unit is an Internet access point (or hot spot).

40. The method according to claim 29, wherein:

the method is used in a headset; and

the connecting unit is an Internet access point.

41. The method according to claim 29, wherein said method is used in one or more of:

a computer;

a PDA;

a mobile telephone; and

a portable computer.